Cat and Mouse
by SheetsofRain
Summary: A young engineer is keeping Kirk on his toes. He's not sure if he likes it or not. KirkOC
1. Chapter 1

A/N: It's been a while since I've written anything. I needed a distraction from schoolwork, so I thought I would give writing a shot again. Maybe I'll even write more than one chapter this time.

* * *

Eliza grumbled as she stepped into the lift and pushed the button on the wall to her right with a little more force than was necessary. She crossed her arms across her chest and tried to think how she had come to be in her current position. Top of her class at the academy, even graduating early, and where was she now? In the lift, headed to the bridge. Now normally, that would be something to take pride in. Since she was a girl, she had dreamt of being stationed on a starship. She had always done well in school. She learned quickly and had ambitions. Yet, despite the fact that she was offered a senior engineering position on one of Starfleet's smaller ships, she had turned it down for the opportunity to be a lowly assistant on the fleet's best: the Enterprise. Once she found out that Montgomery Scott was going to be the chief engineer on the ship, she was sold. He was her idol, and now her mentor, but that did not give him the right to give her such meaningless tasks.

Eliza was so absorbed in her own thoughts, it took her a few seconds to realize that the lift had stopped moving and the doors had opened. She composed herself quickly and walked briskly onto the bridge. When Scotty had given her a file and told her to deliver it to Commander Spock, at first, she simply laughed. It had to have been a joke, right? But, apparently, it was not. Although she was highly educated and skilled, one of the yeoman was in sickbay and out of commission for the rest of the week. This, unfortunately, meant that Ensign Eliza Roberts had the pleasure of replacing him for the time being. Admittedly, it wasn't all that bad. She was mostly given important files and messages from engineering to the bridge. She felt useless, though. "I took this job to learn from the best and work on the best ship in the fleet, not run errands," she thought to herself. She quickly made her way to Spock's side and cleared her throat in order to get his attention. He looked up from his conversation he was having with the captain and took the folder she was holding out to him. He nodded in a gesture that probably indicated thanks and reviewed the papers within. Eliza made a quick about-face and was making her was back to the lift when she was stopped.

"No wait, maybe you can settle this for us." Captain Kirk got her attention, causing her to stop, heave yet another heavy sigh, and turned around.

Again. Not again. She had made three trips to the bridge today alone and every time she got roped into some time-wasting banter between the captain and his first officer. The first time, it was pretty amusing. When she had first stepped off the lift that morning to deliver a "vital message" on the ship's well being (according to Scotty. Apparently too vital to be sent through the comm. system), she was really just minding her own business. But when the captain of her ship asked for her name and if she could remember the name of a specific old (and, if memory serves her right, a little rude) professor in the astrophysics department, she really had no reason to refuse. She politely introduced herself and rank and reminded him that the man he was thinking of was a professor Herbert. She had taken is class with the captain, although he was in his final year at the time while she was in her first and she did not expect him to remember her in a large lecture class like that one. They shared a short conversation about the way Hubert would yell at random points in his lectures in order to keep his students awake. Spock mumbled something about him being an "exceptional educator with great knowledge and expertise in his field" and chastised the captain while he reminisced about catching up on sleep in the back of the classroom.

Eliza liked the captain. He may be a young and reckless at times, but he was indeed a smart and capable leader. After being stopped in the middle of her work for a childish conversation the fourth time that day, however, she was starting to rethink that. She walked back to the captain's chair and stood calmly with her hands behind her back.

"You wanted something, Captain?" She almost bit out the words through a professional smile.

"Why yes, Ensign Roberts. Now, Spock her and I were having a little conversation and we were wondering if you could lend your expertise." The captain smiled cheekily at her in that innocent-farmboy way that he had perfected. She gave him an exasperated look, but nodded nonetheless.

"Who, in your opinion, is better: The Rolling Stones or the Beatles?"

Eliza looked blankly at the captain for a few seconds. "Excuse me?"

"You know, Old Earth classic rock? Who do you like better?"

Eliza looked to Commander Spock, whose face was expressionless, then back to the captain. He was still grinning. Jesus, when would this day end?

Eliza sighed, but replied anyway, "Well, captain, while both have artistic merit in the history of Earth music, I prefer The Beatles."

Kirk's grin grew even wider. "Ha! I told you, Spock! Everyone knows that The Beatles were better."

Spock straightened his posture and said, "If I may remind you, captain, we were not disputing the issue and I offered no opinion on the matter." Spock looked like he was having a long day, too.

"Well if that's all…" Eliza began to turn away, but was stopped again by Kirk. Before he could take up more of her time, though, Spock, her savior, recommended he let her "get back to her work." She could kiss that pointy-eared little man.

"Oh fine, Spock, you're no fun." Kirk grumbled and turned his chair back to face forward. Eliza began to turn and had made it all the way into the lift by the time he turned again and yelled, "See you later, Roberts!" over his shoulder. Once the doors had closed, she let out an annoyed puff of air and leaned against the back wall of the lift. After a few seconds, she burst into a fit of giggles, which lasted until she was back in engineering. Jim Kirk may be irritating, but she had to admit he had something about him.

* * *

"It's just frustrating is all," Eliza said, swinging her legs back and forth. She was perched on the edge of one of the biobeds in sickbay, watching as Christine Chapel made her rounds, checking the stats of her patients.

"I want to work on the ship, not running errands carrying love letters between Scotty and the captain." She had had a long and exhausting day and it felt nice to be able to vent to her friend.

Christine finished checking the blood pressure of a botanist with a large wound on his right leg (apparently there was an incident with a carnivorous plant) and gave her a sympathetic smile.

"I know, and it won't be for much longer. You knew when you took the job you would have to work your way up from the bottom. I can sympathize with you, though; McCoy's not exactly the easiest to work with either."

"I heard that, Chapel." McCoy appeared at Eliza's side and took the chart from Christine's hand. He was looking grumpy as usual. "Don't sweat it, Liza. Jim may be a pain in the ass but you can deal."

"Thanks for your inspiring words, Doctor." Eliza gave him a look of exasperation, but it quickly turned to a shared smile. After having acquired a number of burns, cuts, and bruises while working in engineering, she had come accustomed to the company of Christine and McCoy. Hell, she was there so often, they might as well have a bed reserved for her. But today was a social visit. She looked up to the two medical professionals and found an easy camaraderie with them.

"Well, I'm going to grab some dinner. Want to come, Chris? Len?"

Chapel looked up from the chart she was busily scribbling on and replied, "I'd love to but, I'm pulling a double shift."

"And I have a mountain of paperwork on my desk," grumbled McCoy.

"I guess I'll see you both later, then." Eliza hopped off the biobed, said her good-byes, and headed for the mess hall.

It was a little late, and the dinner rush had already come and gone, so the room was fairly empty. Eliza grabbed a tray and sat at an empty table. As she ate, she skimmed over a recent article from _Modern Starship Mechanics_ on her PADD. She was jolted from her own thoughts when a tray was placed on the table across from her and none other than Jim Kirk plopped himself down in the seat.

"Well, hiya, Roberts," Kirk grinned brightly at her. He picked up his fork and dug into his plate of food with much gusto.

Eliza didn't know whether to be annoyed of amused. She didn't really mind his presence, but he really could have asked permission before he sat down with her. She put down the article she was reading and replied with a polite, "Captain."

"Call me Jim," Kirk said, his mouth full of food. She gave a little smile.

"I don't know about that, captain."

"Well, if you won't call me by my first name, will you at least go out with me tomorrow."

She couldn't help it: she let out a laugh. Jim Kirk was known ship-wide (hell, probably universally) as a ladies-man, chasing anything female, regardless of species or royal status. (She thought back to the unfortunate event about a month ago when he had inadvertently hit on a Princess while at a presidential dinner. Her father wasn't too pleased).

Eliza had her share of interested men in her day. She was slim with big, brown eyes and a nice no-nonsense haircut, which left her brown mess of hair just long enough to meet her jaw. She wasn't the most attractive woman, she knew, but she did all right. She had never really had a man of his status hit on her before, though. It seemed pretty absurd to her.

She chuckled and let out a sigh. "Smooth, Captain. I bet that line works on all the girls."

He grinned back at her. "Well, it does for some of them."

Eliza put her PADD back into her bag and stood up with her tray. "Sorry, but I think I have a late shift tomorrow."

She turned to walk away but Kirk brought her attention back to him. "I'll change it. I am the captain, you know."

Eliza narrowed her eyes playfully and replied, "Yes, I know. Still probably not the best, idea though." She turned and walked away this time.

Behind her, she heard Kirk yell, "I'll convince you one day, Roberts!" She just shook her head, laughed, and pushed through the doors of the mess hall.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Woah, what is this? A second chapter? I think that may be a first for me. But it was either this or write a paper for art history so this won.

* * *

If you were to ask anyone to describe Jim Kirk in one word, nine times out of ten it would be "relentless."

Jim, on the other hand, likes to think of himself as "goal oriented." He knew what he wanted and quickly went about getting whatever that was. He was clever and that usually worked to his advantage in these sorts of situations. (Not to mention being handsome. Yes, that definitely didn't hurt). But this Ensign Roberts seemed to have embedded herself in his mind the way no one else had.

It had started out innocently enough. After that first day, Eliza became a somewhat regular occurrence in his daily routine. Scotty had some message, she delivered it to the bridge, they exchanged a minute or two of playful conversation, Spock rolled his eyes, and then they all got back to work. It was nice. Kirk actually began to feel himself looking forward to the moments in his day when she came up to the bridge. He may not admit it, but his heart began to race just a little more when he heard the lift doors open and he turned around in his chair to find Eliza standing there. He enjoyed her company and found her banter a fun alternative to the always-composed Commander Spock. They fell into a nice habit of meeting at the mess or passing each other in the corridors of the ship and stopping to take time to talk to each other. After a week, their normal conversations began to grow longer. He started to notice that he would talk to her in the mess long after they had finished their meals, when they were the only ones left in the room save for the cleaning crew.

Jim shifted in his captain's chair, staring off into the vast blackness of space. He was distracted. True, he enjoyed the newfound friendship with the young engineer, but she was no doubt taking up more of his thoughts than he would like to admit to either himself or anyone else. He liked her that much was obvious. She was sharp as a tack and as stubborn as he was. She was clever and, frankly, he liked that she didn't put up with his bullshit so easily. She was a challenge that he was definitely willing to take.

But so far, he was concerned that maybe she was playing hard to get a little too adamantly. He flirted with her shamelessly, but each time he made a suggestive comment she would jut smile a false-looking smile and shrug him off. He had made her laugh and knew enough to tell that her polite smiles to his propositions were not really genuine. She always looked distracted and easily changed the subject.

For Jim Kirk, legendary lover of all galaxies, this was not a position he often found himself in. Being the captain of the best starship in the fleet definitely has its perks when it came to picking up women, but she seemed oddly immune to his usual flirtation methods. Every wink and playful hand on the knee was quickly laughed off. It was maddening.

Behind him, Jim heard the hydraulics of the lift moving and the door opening onto the bridge. He smiled to himself and turned.

"'Liza is it true that…" but Jim cut himself off when he turned to see that it was not Eliza who was delivering the files to Spock. A young _male_ yeoman had replaced her and curtly handed Spock the files and headed back to the lift. Jim was confused.

Before the yeoman could leave, Kirk whipped his chair around and caught his attention. "What happened to Ensign Roberts? Is she sick or something?"

The young man looked bewildered that the captain was addressing him. He caught himself and replied, "No, sir, she was just taking over for me while I was in sickbay. She's gone back to work in engineering." With that he pressed the button on the wall and the lift doors closed.

Jim turned back around in his chair and was lost again in thought. I guess that was the end of that part of his day. As the shift dragged on, he realized just how much he missed her presence. Everything went back to being so serious. It wasn't just her conversations he missed, though. He missed being able to make her smile. He missed the way she playfully glared at him. He missed her legs. Oh God, those legs. He felt like a bastard for thinking it, but he wanted to write a letter to Starfleet suggesting they never, ever, change the female skirt uniform. If anything, they should make them a little shorter. Sure Kirk liked Eliza and her wit, but he was a hot-blooded male who, embarrassingly, hadn't gotten any serious action in a while. How was he not supposed to notice the way her skirt fell at just the right point on her thighs and the way her leather boots covered her shapely calves? He shook his head. It was really not the time for this. Jim looked up and caught Spock looking at him inquisitively. He simply smiled and turned back to looking straight ahead.

* * *

"Oy! Lass!" Scotty's heavily accented voice echoed through the machinery of the ship, causing Eliza to jump and hit her head on a low pipe.

"God damnit," she mumbled as she crawled her way out of the mess of machinery. Once she reached Scotty, she stood up and bushed herself off.

"Yes, Scotty?"

"Need ye to take this up to the captain. ASAP, dear." He handed her a file and grinned.

She brushed the sweat from her forehead, probably leaving a streak of engine grease across her face, but she didn't care.

"I thought yeoman Branch was back from sickbay."

"He is, but Kirk was specific."

"I have work to do down here, can someone else deliver it?" She had been in the middle of a project, did he really have to make her stop in the middle to run an errand?

"Nope. Take a break from the ol' girl and go make a delivery."

Eliza conceded, put down the oily rag in her hand, and took the file. "Fine," she muttered as she brushed past Scotty and made her way to the lift.

When she reached the bridge, it looked almost as if Kirk had been waiting for her to show up. She gave him a quick smile, handed him the folder.

"'Liza, how much you bet…"

"Captain," she stopped him mid-sentence. She stood with her hands clasped behind her back. I don't mean to be insubordinate or disrespectful, but may I remind you that yeoman Branch is perfectly capable of doing this job. I have important work to finish in the engine room. Good day."

She turned on her heels and left.

Kirk was left stunned into silence. Usually he didn't allow subordinates to speak to him that way. He knew she was right, though. He had taken her away from her job, which was really more important that running his errands (which, to be honest, had been fake anyway. Scotty sent him up a print-out of a picture of him riding the Enterprise like a horse when he had asked him to make up an excuse to end up his assistant).

Uhura chuckled from her spot on the bridge. Jim narrowed his eyes at her. She simply smiled back and said, "I told you so."

* * *

The hallways were empty when she finally left engineering. After her trip to the bridge, she had gotten so off track on her work that she stayed a full two hours after her shift ended in order to fix the problem. She swiftly made her way to her quarters, the heavy fall of her boots on the ground the only sound filling the silence of the corridor. She was covered in grease and sweat and just wanted to get in a real-water shower and stay there for days. She was dirty and tired and just wanted to wash off the problems of the day and go to sleep. It seems the universe had other plans for her, though.

As she made her way to her room, she ran into none other than Captain Jim Kirk. She had been purposefully avoiding him since their run in earlier that day. She felt bad for speaking to him in such a way and knew that he was justified in punishing her for the way she rudely spoke. She tried not to catch his attention as she rushed past him, but failed miserably.

"Ensign Roberts." Kirk's voice was firm, the tone of voice he usually reserved for commands in a time of panic. _"Shit."_ Eliza stopped and turned to face him. His jaw was set in a firm line and the usual light that shone in his eyes was not present. It seemed he was not joking this time. She stood up straighter and decided to stand her ground.

"Engisn, while I realize that it is not your normal job, when you are given a direct order from your superior, I expect you to be able to execute it without attitude."

Eliza looked up at him with pleading eyes and he instantly regretted his words. Her skin looked pale and dirt-stained. She looked exhausted and dark circles were beginning to form underneath her eyes. She didn't say a word for a while. She simply looked down, a disappointed expression crossing her face.

As he scrutinized her, a young cadet walked past the two and nodded to the captain. He looked at their surroundings and realized it was probably not the best spot for them to be having a private conversation about her job performance. He turned and guided her off down a smaller side corridor, just outside one of the now empty labs.

She sighed and finally looked up at him. "I'm sorry, captain. It's won't happen again." She turned to walk away, when Kirk softly grasped her shoulder and turned her back to face him.

"What's wrong, 'Liza? What's going on?" He looked into her eyes, searching hard for something, any sort of emotion. She had avoided him twice in the halls and abruptly left the mess hall when she had seen him enter than night. Something was clearly wrong.

"Nothing Captain, it was just a long shift." Jim frowned. As they had been spending a lot of time together as of late, he had eventually coaxed her into calling him by his first name (although she usually just called him "Kirk" like everyone else). He had felt an odd sense of pride and satisfaction when she called him by his first name.

He sighed. He looked at her a moment, trying to choose his words carefully. She was biting her bottom lip and trying her hardest to avoid his gaze.

"I'm sorry," he said. She finally met his stare. "You were right. I should have left you alone. You've made it clear you don't share my attraction for you and it was wrong for me to have taken you away from your work earlier."

Jim turned to walk off and drown his rough day in a bottle of whiskey with Bones, but the light pressure of her hand on his arm stopped him.

"No," she said solemnly. "I was wrong." She slowly leaned in closer to him. He stood still against her. Eliza lifted her head to look him directly in the eye and smiled softly. Slowly, she leaned in, lifted herself onto the tips of her toes and pressed her lips against Jim's.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Hi. I didn't actually think I would make it this far in writing this story, but it is proving to be a nice distraction. I would just like to thank all of you for actually reading this. And thank you to those who left supportive comments. I really appreciate it. So here's another chapter.

* * *

Jim froze. His eyes slipped close as Eliza continued her assault on his lips. They were soft, yet firm against him. She tentatively raised a hand and delicately rested it on his chest. This is what he wanted and now, it seemed, this is what she had wanted as well. Jim firmly gripped the hand that rested against him in his right hand as her tongue shyly passed over his bottom lip. He groaned lightly and pulled her closer to him, reveling in the feel of the heat of her body against him. Kirk raised his left hand to explore her hair, settling at the base of her head, keeping her close to him.

As air began to become a necessity, their lips separated. Eliza was breathing heavily against the skin of his cheek and he held on tight to her small body. She slowly looked up at him, under heavy lids, searching his face for a sign of his reaction. What she found, mainly, was still shock.

Kirk felt his heart sink as she lightly began to pull away from him. Quickly, she pulled her hand from his grasp and covered her face.

"Jesus, I'm so sorry, I don't know what came over me. It's just been a long day and-" Eliza's nervous rants were silenced as Kirk pulled her to him again. This kiss was different, full of reassurance and passion. It was firm and demanding as Kirk tried to channel all his pent up frustrations from the past week into one action. Eliza raised her hand to cup his cheek. He could feel the slight lift at the corners of her mouth as she smiled against his lips.

"I think I should really go," Eliza mumbled against his lips.

"Nope, you're not leaving now, girl." Kirk's hand went to the back of her skull, pulling her lips desperately toward his.

She chuckled against him as she pulled away. She looked into his eyes, running her fingertips against the stubble on his chin.

"I'm covered in engine grease. Plus, I'm sure I smell."

Kirk looked down at her and laughed. He placed a few, wet kisses against her cheek and replied, "You kind of do, but I don't care."

She laughed and turned her head slightly to capture his lips again. "Plus, you have a ship to command."

Kirk groaned and leaned his forehead against hers, closing his eyes. She looked up at him again, biting her bottom lip. She looked unsure of herself, an emotion rarely seen on the ensign's face.

"I'll see you later?" he asked, a similar apprehensiveness in his eyes.

Eliza smirked and sighed. She ran the tip of her nose against his cheek and down across his jaw, causing him to shiver just slightly.

"I guess so. If I have to." She smiled at him, jokingly and pressed a light kiss to his lips. She disentangled herself from him and turned to walk back down the hallway. Kirk immediately felt the loss of her warmth. He watched as she walked away. At the end of the hall, she stopped, turned back toward him and gave him a warm smile. She averted her eyes quickly and walked out of view.

Jim must have stood there in shock for a good two minutes. He grinned to himself and ran a hand through his hair. He let out a chuckle under his breath and made his way back to the bridge with, what Spock would later call, a "swagger" in his step.

* * *

Eliza stood under the spray of her turbo shower, idly staring at the tiling on the walls. Deep in thought, she reached out for the shampoo bottle and squeezed a small portion into her palm. As she worked it into her hair, she thought back to her last encounter with Kirk.

Eliza had had a total of 5 boyfriends in her life. The first was Sammy Reynolds in the second grade. Their "relationship" lasted a grand total of 3 hours and ended abruptly when he pulled the head off of her Barbie doll.

The second was Henry Williams. This time, the couple lasted an entire week and ended when she found Henry holding another girl's hand in the hall.

In high school there were Tom and Max. With both, frankly, she just lost interest.

Then there was Owen. Owen was so sweet when they had first met at the academy. She remembered a certain disastrous night out with some friends who had both gone off with a boy and left her alone at the bar. As she stood up from the barstool, fairly tipsy at the time, she got her foot caught, twisting her ankle and nearly falling flat on her face. As luck would have it, Owen was sitting next to her at the bar and caught her before she fell. He took her outside and took a look at her ankle. She remembered how he smiled up at her, reassuring her that he was a medical student at the academy while gently cradling her swollen ankle in his hands.

Eliza had never really sought out male companionship. She had always been so focused on her studies in high school, then university and the academy that she never felt she had time for a real "relationship." But, as stories of first love always go, Owen was different. She felt distracted in class thinking about when she would be able to see him again, but this time did not resist it. She embraced the way he made her feel happy and wanted. And for a whole year and a half, things were great.

Eliza sighed and leaned her forehead against the cool tile of the wall. The warm stream of water ran over her and relaxed the muscles of her back. Was this a mistake? Probably. She liked Jim. He was smart and caring and fun to be around. Plus there was the added bonus of his strong jaw line and cute dimples that made an appearance when he laughed. But this wasn't the academy anymore, this was her career and he was her commanding officer. She knew she shouldn't have feelings for him, but over the weeks they had spent together they had developed a special friendship and she was powerless to resist his advances anymore.

Eliza rinsed the suds from her body and turned off the shower. She grabbed a towel and dried off her wet skin and hair as she made her way back into her adjoining quarters. She wrapped the towel around her body and flopped down on her bed in a huff. For some time, she simply stared at the ceiling, lost in thought.

* * *

The next day, both Eliza and Jim roamed the halls of the Enterprise with a renewed optimism. They passed each other a few times throughout the day, exchanging glances and flirtatious smiles. They had not touched or spoken since the day before, but when they were in the same room they couldn't help but sneak smiles and knowing glances at each other. Spock seemed to notice something was different about the captain's attitude, but said nothing.

That same day they landed on a small planet just outside of the Moussa nebula. Kirk had assembled an away team consisting of himself, Commander Spock, McCoy, and a couple of botany researchers and security officers. Their mission was to collect data on a plant that grew in that galaxy. According to McCoy, studies had been done proving it to have powerful medicinal values and Starfleet had requested they take some samples that could be analyzed by the doctor.

Kirk called the team to the transporter room and assembled to make last minute adjustments to their itinerary. When Jim dismissed the men to take their positions on the transporter pad, he made a point of lightly brushing Eliza's arm as we walked past her at her post. She smiled to herself and pretended to be distracted with making adjustments to the machinery in front of her.

Jim squared his shoulders and stood in the center of the transporter as the others took their placed around him. "Ready to beam down, Scotty," he said, his tone even and professional.

"Aye, captain." Scotty worked his magic with the transporter. Jim snuck a glance at Eliza, meeting her gaze. He smiled a wide grin in her direction before he dissolved into atoms.

Eliza was in the engine room when she heard the frantic call to Scotty. She made sure to keep her composure after hearing the words "captain" and "hurt," tensing her jaw and trying her hardest to ignore the panic that flooded through her mind. Over the yells over the intercom, she swiftly made her way to the lift heading toward sickbay.


End file.
